Man sentenced for dealing in child porn involving relatives

CLEVELAND (AP) - A man was sentenced to 19 years in prison for sexually abusing two relatives as part of an international ring that involved parents posting nude photographs of their children on the Internet.

Edwin Bartholomew, 43, of Galion, said in court Monday that his obsession with children was similar to a drug addiction.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent criticized that comment, saying people who smoke or use drugs only hurt themselves, whereas Bartholomew was "condemning children to a lifetime of suffering."

Bartholomew pleaded guilty in May to sexually exploiting children for use in the Internet porn ring. Some of the photos were of fathers abusing their daughters. Bartholomew posted pictures of two relatives. One child had been photographed from age 1 until about age 5.

Bartholomew has also been charged with 13 sex-related charges in Crawford County Common Pleas Court in Bucyrus.

If Bartholomew is convicted there, Assistant Crawford County Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said he will push to have the sentence run consecutively with the federal term.

Federal agents uncovered the case in January 2002, when Danish police accused a Denmark couple of raping their 9-year-old daughter, according to court records.

Authorities learned of a San Diego man who created child pornography. Bartholomew's name and e-mail address was in the man's electronic address book.

Officials said U.S. Customs agents raided Bartholomew's house last year and found more than 2,000 images of child pornography.

Nugent ordered Bartholomew to avoid all swimming pools, toy stores and playgrounds when he gets out of prison. Nugent also told him that he could not talk with any child unless another adult is with him.

"He is not proud of this," defense attorney Henry Hilow said. "He has attempted to control it, but he couldn't."